(1832–93).

Engineer and surveyor.

A new biography of Rochfort, John appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

John Rochfort was born in Bayswater, London, in 1832 and as a youth served an engineering apprenticeship under Sir I. K. Brunel. He later decided to visit New Zealand and, with a brother, arrived in Wellington via Lyttelton on the Marmora in 1851. After a reconnaissance journey up the coast to Wanganui, Rochfort accepted a temporary position on the survey staff under Robert Park to mark out native reserves in the Rangitikei Block. Conditions were unsatisfactory. Rochfort soon resigned and travelled over the lower Ruahines and across country to Ahuriri to collect his instruments which he had sent round in anticipation of surveying the Ahuriri Block. He decided, however, to go to Australia and left in mid-1852 for Melbourne. After a lively time on the Victorian diggings he returned to London in October 1853 to publish a most interesting frank narrative of his adventures.

Within a few years he was back in New Zealand with headquarters at Riwaka, Nelson, and in 1858 he commenced a series of engagements for the Nelson Provincial Government. In 1859 he surveyed the Canterbury-Nelson boundary and travelled from Lake Sumner over Harper Pass and down the Taramakau to Lake Brunner and over to the Grey, then down to the coast. A second journey from Nelson that year found him again at the Buller in August, and in November he was eventually able to start a canoe journey up the Buller, but the survey was abruptly ended by the loss of the canoe and all supplies in the river. Coal seams had been noted and F. Millington, of his party, collected the first gold from the river. Rochfort proposed the name Westmore-land for the region, but Westland appeared on his accompanying map. In 1861 Rochfort discovered the Amuri Pass, for which he claimed a reward from the Nelson Government and later, both independently and in company with James Burnett, carried out extensive exploratory surveys in the Mokihinui, Wangapeka, and Karamea areas, in the course of which coal and other minerals were reported.

In November 1863 he was appointed Assistant Surveyor to the Canterbury Provincial Government and in 1864 completed the coastline survey of South Westland north to Abut Head. He transferred to the General Government in 1869 and two years later laid out a line of railway – not that subsequently adopted – over the Rimutaka Range. From 1874 to 1876 he was engineer to the Timaru and Gladstone Board of Works, but rejoined the Survey Department.

His main task came in 1883 with his commission to investigate the central route of the North Island Main Trunk railway. Leaving Marton in June 1883 he went up the Rangitikei and Hautapu valleys to Karioi, where Maoris stopped him, then returned to Wanganui to seek the intercession of Major Kemp, but was again stopped at Ruakaka on the Manganui-o-te-Ao. Visits to Kemp and to Wellington to interview John Bryce preceded yet another advance up the Wanganui to Te Papa, where warning shots were fired over his head. After a short pause, however, Rochfort learned that the most resolute opponents of the survey had dispersed and he therefore returned to complete the traverse to Waimarino. At Tau-marunui there was further difficulty, which Rochfort circumvented by travelling north via West Taupo. Opposition was finally removed by a meeting at Kihikihi between Bryce and Wahanui after which Rochfort finished the northern sector of his survey. The work was an outstanding example of Rochfort's tenacity, courage, and unequalled eye for route location in broken bush country. He later completed a traverse and level survey and, although the problem of the descent from the Volcanic Plateau by the Spiral was left to later engineers to solve, the fact that the line throughout its distance substantially follows this route is a tribute to his work.

Rochfort married, first, in 1863, Mary Elizabeth Hackett, who died in 1864 and, secondly, in 1867, Amelia Susan Lewis, the daughter of the surveyor Henry Lewis. Rochfort left Government service in October 1887 and died at Kihikihi on 8 March 1893. Although the number of routes over which Rochfort has priority in discovery is not great, very few explorers surpassed his record of nearly 30 years in difficult field work on primary surveys.

by Austin Graham Bagnall, M.A., A.L.A., Librarian, National Library Centre, Wellington.

• The Adventures of a Surveyor in New Zealand, Rochfort, J. (1853)
• Journal of the Royal Geographic Society, Vol. 32 (1862), “Journal of Two Expeditions to the West Coast of the Middle Island …”, Rochfort, J.
• Engineers' and Assistants' Association Year Book, 1955–56, “Exploration … of the Marton – Te Awamutu Section of the North Island Main Trunk Railway”, Lee, J. R.

(1840–1930).

Soldier, artist, and collector.

Horatio Gordon Robley was born at Madeira on 28 June 1840, his father being a captain in the Indian Army. In 1858 he purchased an ensigncy in the 68th Durham Light Infantry. After a short period of training he joined his regiment in Burma where he remained for nearly five years. In 1860 Robley was sent home to England for a period of sick leave. Later in the same year he was present at the siege of Delhi; afterwards, at Rangoon, he assumed command of the guard of King Bahadur Shad.

In 1863 the 68th Regiment left Burma for New Zealand and, in the following April, Robley took his troops to Tauranga to join General Cameron's forces attacking Gate Pa. Here he remained for 19 months during which his amazing series of sketches of Maori life were executed. On 28 June 1866 Robley returned to England, purchased a captaincy for £1,100, and transferred to the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. In 1880 he was promoted to major and served in Mauritius. Later he was sent to South Africa and saw service in Natal and Zululand. He then went to Ceylon where, in 1882, he wrote his regiment's history. Robley was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and, in 1887, retired from the Army with the rank of major-general.

In New Zealand Robley had many opportunities of demonstrating his talent for drawing. At Tauranga, he made a sketch from an eminence of the inland view to the south-west with such accuracy that the troops were able to outflank the enemy's position. In the Dominion Museum, Wellington, there are seventy paintings by Robley – a remarkable historical record of the military occupation of Tauranga and supplying besides many intimate and casual details of early Maori life. Some years later a selection of his sketches provided a basis for Cassells' publication Races of Mankind. In Burma, as in New Zealand, Robley took every opportunity to observe the people and to learn their language.

By a special process the Maoris were able to preserve the tatooed heads of chiefs, which Europeans purchased for museums, and many such heads found their way to Europe before the trade was suppressed. In his retirement Robley decided to acquire as many of these as possible, and at length built up a unique collection of 35 heads. In 1908 he offered them to the New Zealand Government for £1,000; his offer, however, was refused. Later, with the exception of five heads, the collection was purchased by the Natural History Museum, New York, for £1,250.

Of his two New Zealand books, Moko or Maori Tattooing (q.v.) is the more outstanding. “His acknowledged object,” it has been said, “was to put together a text to support the specialised record he had drawn of tattoo patterns and of his collection of dried heads. On these two subjects he regarded himself as an authority, a claim not to be disputed provided we bear in mind that his awareness was that of a curio collector, and not that of a scholar”.

Throughout his life Robley remained the same capable officer he had been in his youth. Always “a soldier with a pencil”, he was ever indulging his delightful creative hobby – sketching the new and the curious in the strange native peoples he contacted. It was after his retirement that his main contributions to our knowledge were made. In his history of the Maori tiki, Robley reveals himself as a visionary. Briefly, he relates the Biblical instruction Moses gave to the Jews, forbidding them to cut their flesh in mourning for the dead – an old Maori custom – and suggests that this was sufficient to cause a whole tribe to migrate via India and Burma to the Pacific. In their wanderings the tribe encountered Buddha, whose figure created such an impression that ultimately, in New Zealand, they reproduced it in the tiki.

Until shortly before his death in England on 29 October 1930, Robley maintained a lively correspondence with distinguished New Zealanders. His interest in tattoo and in preserved heads never diminished.

by William John Phillipps, formerly Registrar and Ethnologist, Dominion Museum, Wellington.

• Moko – Or Maori Tattooing, Robley, G. H. (1896)
• Pounamu, Notes on New Zealand Greenstone, Robley, G. H. (1915)
• Robley – A Soldier with a Pencil, Melvin, L. W. (Tauranga Historical Society) (1957).

(1824–97).

Tenth Governor of New Zealand.

Sir Hercules Robinson was born on 19 December 1824, second of the six sons of Admiral Hercules Robinson of Rosmead, Westmeath, Ireland; and Frances Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Widman Wood, of Rosmead. He was educated at Sandhurst and commissioned in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, but in 1846 accepted appointment under the Public Works Commissioners for Ireland and rendered notable service during the Irish famine (1848). He became President of Monserrat (1854–55), and Lieutenant Governor of St. Christophers (1855–59), before being appointed Governor of Hong Kong (1859–65). He was there during the China War (1860–61) and negotiated the cession of Kowloon.

He served on a commission to investigate public finances in Straits Settlements (1863), and from 1865 to 1872 was Governor of Ceylon, where he organised railway, cable, and telegraph extensions. He became Governor of New South Wales (1872–79), where his personal firmness did much to teach local politicians that affairs of state came before personal interests. While there, he negotiated at Suva (1874) for the cession of Fiji. He succeeded Normanby as Governor of New Zealand on 17 April 1879 in the last months of the Grey Ministry. Native troubles were pending, but Robinson had not fully mastered the problem before (September 1880) he was appointed Governor of Cape Colony and British High Commissioner for South Africa. There he displayed “rare tact and sagacity” in negotiating peace after the first Boer War (1881), and in handling the Bechuanaland troubles (1881–85) which culminated in the annexation of that territory. His term was twice extended until his retirement on 1 May 1889. He was created Baronet (1891). When, however, British-Boer relations deteriorated, Robinson was brought from retirement to resume the Governorship of South Africa on 30 May 1895. There, his tactful management of the situation consequent upon Jameson's Raid prevented war, and earned for him a Peerage (11 August 1896). Ill health forced his retirement on 23 April 1897, and he returned to London, where he died at 42 Prince's Gardens on 28 October 1897.

On 24 April 1846 Robinson married Nea Arthur Ada Rose D'Amour, sixth daughter of Arthur Annesley Rath, Viscount Valentia, by whom he had one son and three daughters.

His connection with 11 British colonies reveal the Imperial authorities' high appreciation of his ability, while his seven Governorships might appear to parallel, or even exceed, the labours of his classical namesake. A younger brother, Sir W. C. F. Robinson, was also a successful colonial Governor.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Rulers & Statesmen of New Zealand, Gisborne, W. (1897)
• The Times (London), 29 Oct 1897 (Obit).

(1860–1935).

Soldier and administrator.

A new biography of Robin, Alfred William appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

General Robin was born in Australia in 1860 and came to Dunedin with his parents in 1864. He was educated at the Union Street School and the Otago Boys' High School, and was apprenticed to his father, a well-known North Dunedin coach-builder, James Robin. The family business, a lucrative one, contented him for many years, but in the meantime he was devoting all his spare time, and not a little of the firm's, to the volunteer service, which was one of the prime diversions of energetic youth in those days. He joined the Mounted Rifles, and when he reached the rank of captain in the Otago Hussars he had started along a road which more than once in the seventies and eighties brought the highest military preference. He led the New Zealand Mounted Troop at Queen Victoria's Jubilee in London in 1897, and on his return, despite his mature years, he forsook the security of the family business for a permanency in the New Zealand Forces. He assumed command of the Otago Mounted Rifles, and then became mounted infantry instructor to the New Zealand Forces. It was in this capacity that he was given command of the 1st New Zealand Contingent in the South African War, in which he won the Queen's Medal, with five clasps. On his return, while commander of the Otago Military District, he was awarded the C.B. Seven years later he joined the General Staff, and in 1912, as General Officer Commanding the New Zealand Forces, he went to London as New Zealand representative on the Imperial General Staff. He left Whitehall on his return to New Zealand in 1914, and during the First World War commanded the New Zealand Forces at home. When he retired from the forces in 1920 he was created K.C.M.G., and accepted the post of Acting Administrator of Samoa, which had only just passed into New Zealand jurisdiction. He spent two years in Samoa and retired to Wellington in 1922, where he died, unmarried, on 2 June 1935.

General Robin belonged to an age when military rank carried distinction as such. War still retained a romantic flavour, and his exploits in South Africa had won for him a wide public. In his retirement, he devoted most of his energies to the Boy Scout movement, only recently created by Lord Baden-Powell, for whom he had a lively admiration. There was an idealistic touch to his character which made complete retirement impossible, and for a quarter of a century he identified himself actively and enthusiastically with the Boy Scout movement. His services were recognised two years before his death with the award of the Order of the Silver Wolf, a distinction of which he was extremely proud.

by Ronald Jones, Journalist and Script Writer, New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, Wellington.

Evening Post, 3 Jun 1935 (Obit).

Though superficially there is a considerable resemblance between the New Zealand bird called by this name and the true robin of Britain and Europe, the two are not related. The local species belongs to the Muscicapidae or flycatchers, whereas the robin redbreast is one of the Turdidae – the same family that includes blackbirds and song-thrushes. The common name, however, is now so well established that it is fruitless to try to replace it. Scientifically the New Zealand robin is Petroica (Miro) australis and there are four races – one in the North Island, one in the South, one on Stewart Island, and one now restricted to Little Mangere Island in the Chatham group. Differences in size and colour distinguish them. With the exception of the Chatham Island robin, which is wholly black, the other races are sooty grey on head, throat, back, and wings, and whitish or yellowish on the abdomen. Females are duller and smaller than males. Head and eyes are large and the male, in particular, is extremely tame.

Robins occur in the central forested areas of the North Island and are nowhere abundant, although they appear to be maintaining their numbers. Outside of these areas they are rare or absent in the North Island, except on Little Barrier and Kapiti Islands where they are common. In the South Island they are rare in the east south of Marlborough and are absent from a considerable part of Westland. They are locally common on Stewart Island and occur on some of its off-lying islets. On Little Mangere, the Chatham Islands robin population was under 100 at the last count and is in danger of extinction.

As well as being insectivorous, robins eat worms and readily pick up scraps around camp and picnic sites. Much of their time is spent upon the ground searching for food. The breeding season is from October to February. Males defend a territory and the females build a cup-shaped nest in which they incubate two or three eggs for about 18 days.

Robin habitat is usually tall native forest, though nowadays it may sometimes include plantations of introduced pines. Manuka scrub in the vicinity of forest may also be occupied.

The clear sustained song, with its richness and variety of phrasing, is perhaps the finest possessed by any native species.

by Gordon Roy Williams, B.SC.(HONS.)(SYDNEY), Lecturer in Agricultural Zoology, Lincoln Agricultural College.

(1881– ).

Labour leader.

A new biography of Roberts, James appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

p>James Roberts was born at Cork, Ireland, on 25 February 1881, the son of Thomas Roberts and Teresa Stewart Roberts, née O'Driscoll. He was educated at Irish National Schools and went to sea when he was 16. In 1899 he visited New Zealand and returned to settle two years later. He joined the New Zealand Railways Department and worked on the construction of the Main Trunk line. Later he was employed by the Wellington Gasworks and on the waterfront. Having been interested in the United Kingdom Labour movement, he joined the New Zealand Labour Party and was an active trades unionist. From 1915 to 1941 he was secretary of the Waterside Workers' Federation (later New Zealand Waterside Workers' Union) and secretary of the New Zealand Alliance of Labour (1920–35). In this connection he visited Australia (1924) and led the Labour delegation to the National Industrial Conference (1928). He represented New Zealand at the International Labour Organisation Conference in 1930 and was a deputy member of the Governing Body of I.L.O. from 1930 to 1938. From 1934 to 1937 he was vice-president of the New Zealand Labour Party and president from 1937 to 1958. Since 1925 he has been chairman of the New Zealand Worker Publishing Co. and held a similar position in New Zealand Labour Newspapers (1942–51). He was a member of the Waterfront Commission in 1940 and was called to the Legislative Council in 1947. On his retirement from the presidency of the Labour Party, “Big Jim”, as he is popularly called, was awarded the C.M.G. Because of his influence in the New Zealand Labour movement during the period 1935 to 1949, Roberts was known as “the uncrowned King of New Zealand”.

(1899– ).

Thoracic surgeon.

A new biography of Robb, George Douglas appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

George Douglas Robb was born at Mount Roskill, Auckland, on 29 April 1899 and educated at Auckland Grammar School and the University of Otago. From 1923 to 1928 he undertook postgraduate studies in London and, afterwards, returned to New Zealand and began to practise surgery in Auckland. He was vice-president of the Auckland Medical Foundation in 1940 and has been a member of the New Zealand Medical Council since 1941, of the New Zealand Medical Research Council since 1951, and president of the British Medical Association, 1961–62. Since 1942 he has been senior thoracic surgeon at Greenlane Hospital, Auckland. In 1938 he was elected to Auckland University College Council, later becoming its vice-president and pro-chancellor. From 1948 to 1961 Robb was a member of the University of New Zealand Senate and, since then, has been Chancellor of the University of Auckland. He received the C.M.G. in 1956 and was knighted in 1960. Sir Douglas is the author of the following publications: Medicine and Health in New Zealand (1947); Health Services or Doctors and Hospitals (1942); Hospital Reform in New Zealand (1949) (with S. B. Morris); and University Development in Auckland (1957).

The introduction of the licensing of passenger and goods services and, later, of town carriers, taxi, and rental-vehicle services has created an industry the ownership of which is represented by influential and highly organised bodies, such as the New Zealand Road Transport Alliance, the New Zealand Carriers' Federation, and other organisations representing the passenger, taxi, and rental-vehicle industries. In the striking development of the industry in the post-war years these bodies have played a significant part by promoting the interests of the operators in every possible way. Since 1938 the goods industry has nearly doubled its fleet of trucks and other specialised vehicles, while the proportional increase in carrying capacity has been even higher. Public carriers now run nearly 21,000 vehicles. There has, nevertheless, been an even greater increase in ancillary transport in vehicles owned by traders, farmers, and all other persons or firms carrying their own goods. In 1938 there were four ancillary trucks for every truck owned by a private operator; today there are seven. Increases in public carriers' charges and the prestige and convenience of owning transport have helped to bring about this increase in ancillary transport. Much of it is used far below full capacity and certainly with less efficiency than is the case with public carriers. Similar reasoning applies to the fleet of over half a million private and business cars using the roads. This is, of course, a manifestation of individual freedom in the free-enterprise economy. No solution to the problem is likely to be found, but it is, nevertheless, a waste of economic resources.

The growth of motor transport can be partially seen in the following estimates for the calendar year 1964.

	Million
Milage run by all vehicles including cars	5,700
Passengers carried on public transport	201
Net freight-ton-miles
Public carriers760
Private (carriers) 1,156	1,916

Privately owned cars carry perhaps at least twice as many passengers as public transport.

Besides the enormous contribution it has made to the farming industry, motor transport is proving indispensable elsewhere – in bulk-haulage work, for example, which only a few years ago was thought the province of the railways. Although there is still a good case for protecting the railways, the legal restrictions on the use of road transport for long distances have tended to create the impression that it is uneconomic for this work, an impression which has been effectively dispelled in many other countries.

The disadvantages of the motor vehicle cannot be overlooked. There has been a heavy toll of deaths and injuries on New Zealand roads. Since 1921 over 10,000 people have been killed and over 250,000 injured, many of them seriously. Though it is hard to assess the economic cost of accidents, it would appear, on a moderate estimate, that at least £15,000,000 a year is now lost. The country's fleet of cars (including business cars) alone costs about £130 million a year to run. Motor vehicles have not yet caused air pollution in New Zealand, as they have done elsewhere, but such effects will in time appear. Any realistic assessment of the economic and social contribution of the motor vehicle cannot ignore these facts.

by Norman Frederick Watkins, M.COM., Research Officer, Transport Department, Wellington.

It is not known exactly when the first motor truck was imported into New Zealand, but its usefulness had been well established by 1912 when it was suggested in Parliament that motor-buses and motor wagons should be used instead of light railways. It was said that much wool was being carried by motor lorry. Another innovation was the service car, which was used in public passenger work in Otago from 1910 onwards. Horses, however, were still used for freighting until after the First World War, mainly because trucks were costly to buy and run. A horse could be shod cheaply and quickly; a set of truck tyres cost £150 or more and often took two days to fit. The war advanced the efficiency and production of motor vehicles and large numbers were available from 1919 onwards, and many returned soldiers were experienced in driving and servicing them.

The following table shows the 10-yearly numbers of trucks, omnibuses, and service cars on the register from 31 December 1925 to 1955, also for 1962 to 1964 (1925 figures for trucks only are available).

Year	Trucks *	Omnibuses	Service Cars and Coaches	Taxis
1925	13,673	..	..	..
1935	38,819	559	692	1,672
1945	52,193	999	579	2,058
1955	111,957	2,070	708	2,694
1962	133,253	2,354	548	2,905
1963	135,489	2,524	480	2,794
1964	150,699	2,645	517	3,099

*Excludes Government-owned trucks and local body “exempted” trucks, but in the 1964 figures Government-owned trucks are included and local body “exempted” trucks are still excluded.

The growth of the national fleet of commercial vehicles is a significant event of New Zealand's economic history. The railways were the first to feel the effects, and much of the more costly freight traffic was diverted to motor vehicles. The effect is somewhat obscured. Between 1920 and 1930 the tonnage of railway freight traffic rose from 6 million tons to 7,800,000 tons, but it is clear that, but for the competition from road transport, the tonnage carried in 1930 would have been much higher. In the same period fewer passengers were carried in other than the suburban areas. But the motor vehicle made its greatest contribution in the country areas beyond railheads and in urban delivery. It appeared in large numbers during a time when New Zealand was extending its farming frontier. This called for fast, efficient, and economical transport beyond the power of the horse to fulfil, and though horses and railways played a small part, the motor truck filled the need. Road improvements and the invention of pneumatic tyres have increased speeds, loads, and area of operation and have enabled the motor vehicle to exceed even the railways in developmental capacity per unit of capital. But the benefits have not been limited to one industry. The motor vehicle has been a factor of very great importance in the production, for example, of meat and wool and, recently, has shown that it has decisive advantages over its rivals for moving sheep, pigs, and cattle, even over long distances. It has become more and more used in the timber industry and also, though on a more limited scale, in mining.

By 1931 the advantages of motor transport had proved so decisive that the Government decided to limit the activities of road transport to preserve the financial structure of the railways; thus the principle of licensing of road, passenger, and freight-transport services was introduced in the Transport Licensing Act of 1931. It was extended to town carriers, taxicab, and rental vehicle services in 1939, and, in 1949, to harbour-ferry services. This legislation created a partial monopoly in public road transport by limiting entry to the industry. Restrictions on space preclude any analysis of the legislation or of the necessary later amendments, but there is little doubt that the original aim of the legislation to confer on the railways some measure of protection from road transport has been fulfilled. At the same time, the public road-transport industry has expanded considerably, but it is difficult to say just how far its growth has been retarded or its financial results benefited by the licensing legislation.

The efficiency of commercial motor vehicles, such as trucks, as well as omnibuses and service coaches, has advanced considerably in the years following the Second World War. The ratio of horsepower to weight has increased, not only because of improvements in the efficiency of petrol and diesel engines, but also because of the extensive use of alloy metals and plastics in motor bodies. Improved braking systems and transmission, and innovations such as air suspension, have borne fruit in the form of greater safety and comfort for passengers. The use of vehicles specially built to carry certain classes of goods only has been extended. In the dairy industry, which owes so much to the use of the earliest classes of motor vehicles, the modern milk tanker, for example, has brought about considerable economies in the collection and unloading of milk and cream. Much greater use is now made of diesel-engined trucks and passenger-service vehicles from which, in certain classes of work, marked economies can be expected.

As was the case in other countries, the internal-combustion engine profoundly affected New Zealand. It is not known exactly when the first motor vehicle appeared in New Zealand, but several early attempts were made to construct them. It is said that a three-wheeled machine was built in Timaru in 1896, using a fuel mixture made up by a local chemist. In 1898 McLean, of Wellington, imported two Benz cars, and the McLean Motor Car Act of the same year recognised the fact that the new vehicle had arrived. There were some limitations on the use of the vehicle and a few local bodies tried to exclude it from certain roads altogether on the grounds that horses and other farm stock would be frightened.

Early records of motor-vehicle registrations, which were made by local bodies, are incomplete, but estimates from fragmentary data would seem to show that there were at least 500 motor vehicles, mostly cars, on the roads in 1905. By 1910 the total had grown to probably 3,500; by 1915 the rate of growth had accelerated to an estimated 17,000. By the end of 1920 there were about 50,000 motor vehicles on the local body registers. The Motor Vehicle Registration Act of 1924 provided for a centralised system of motor registrations under the Post Office and, at the first national census of June 1925, there were 106,000 motor vehicles registered, including 71,000 private or business cars, 22,000 motor cycles, 1,030 motor buses, and more than 11,000 (mainly small) trucks.

New Zealand has today probably more private cars per capita than any other country except the United States. Practically all car components are imported, though most cars are assembled locally. Since the war, shortage of overseas exchange has reduced car imports to the extent that there is a large demand for new cars, which, if satisfied, would bring about a marked rise in the index quoted. One effect has been to increase the number of old cars in the private car fleet, about two-thirds of which are over 20 years old, and their lack of efficiency and high cost of running constitute an indirect but very real economic loss to the country.

The following table shows the numbers of cars at 10-year intervals from 31 December 1925 to 1955, also for 1962 to 1964.

Year	Private and Business Cars* (000)	Population (000)	Cars per 1,000 Population
1925	82	1,401	58
1935	143	1,570	91
1945	198	1,728	115
1955	384	2,165	177
1962	564	2,520	224
1963	617	2,575	240
1964	674	2,627	257

*Excludes Government-owned cars, but includes these in the 1964 figures.

The private motorcar is no longer the luxury it was in the 1920s. It is a necessity now in many New Zealanders' opinion, if only of slightly less priority than family housing. One tends to regard the private car as merely an instrument of pleasure, like a television set. The increased mobility it has brought has widened our culture and economic life and has largely helped to foster national, as distinct from local, thinking. In the days of horses few New Zealand farmers were able to make more than a weekly trip to town and many considered themselves fortunate if they were able to travel to town once in six months. Twenty miles was then considered to be a long way to travel in one day. The car has, however, made farm life more tolerable and the farmer is able more easily to manage his affairs. It has, in the same way, become an essential part of modern business, especially of salesmanship. It is handy for the family and allows the wage earner to live far from his job and at the same time avoid the “tyranny of the time-table”.